Child's Play
by Amazing TEEN Authoress
Summary: Everyone thought the whole A mess would be over after A was put behind bars, but when what was supposed to be a fun night as a group turns into a nightmare, the girls find that what happened last year was child's play compared to what this new A has in mind.
1. Being WAtched

**It's been so long since I've posted a story on here! This is another PLL one. After watching the 5x05 ending and the 5x06 promo I was inspired. I love it when everyone's in it together. Oh, and JSYK this takes place eight months after they found out who A was and had them put in jail. Enjoy!**

The cold November Saturday was the perfect opportunity for Aria Montgomery to finally pull out her brand-new long black button-up coat. She had bought it back on a cold snap day in October, but it had warmed up by lunchtime, and it had been warm ever since. Now that it was November, however, it was the perfect weather for it.

She was heading to meet her four best friends, Spencer, Hanna, Emily, and Ali. After a long week of classes at Hollis, the local college, she was ready for something a bit more low-key.

Spencer had invited them all up to her lake house to spend the weekend. Aria, Hanna, and Spencer were bringing their boyfriends, Toby, Ezra, and Caleb. The boys were going to drive out in a separate car, since Toby and Ezra had to work, and Caleb also had a job he needed to finish.

Honestly, Aria was glad to do anything that wasn't going undercover and trying to find the identity of the sociopathic stalker once called A. Now the girls knew that the identity of this person was actually four identities: Paige, Lucas and Mona, who were being led by CeCe Drake, who had managed to weasel herself out of jail after being charged with Wilden's murder.

It had been eight months since A had been put behind bars, and the girls had left the town of Rosewood and headed off to their separate colleges, except for Aria, who stayed behind to go to Hollis.

Even though it had been eight months, Aria still jumped at the sound of her text messaging ringtone. Most of the time it was just one of her four best friends, or her boyfriend, Ezra, who had finally managed to earn her parents' approval after saving her and her friends from being shot by Lucas in New York.

Just then, Aria's text message ringtone beeped. _Hey, Ari! Where r u?_ It was just a message from Hanna, one of Aria's best friends. _Just got in the car. Heading up_, she replied. _Awesome. Cant wait 2 c u!_ Aria rolled her eyes. Hanna had been introduced to the world of text messaging slang by Mona, her ex-best friend. Since then, it was almost unbearable to text with her because Aria couldn't understand half of the words she'd typed.

Aria eased the car out of her driveway, and started to drive up to Spencer's lake house. It was about thirty minutes from Rosewood, but driving didn't bother Aria too much, especially when she knew she would get to see Ezra soon after she got there.

Because of her classes, and Ezra's job, Aria hadn't gotten to see him much over the past week or so. Aria's phone rang again. It was Spencer this time, and Aria answered the call with Bluetooth. "Hey, Spence. What's up?" she asked.

"Hey, Aria. You're not out of town yet, are you?" Spencer asked her.

"No, I just left my house," she replied. "What do you need?"

"I just got a call from Toby, him and Ezra got finished early, and Caleb's postponing his job until Monday," Spencer explained. "They were going to take Ezra's car, but it zonked out. Toby can't get his truck from the parking garage, and Caleb's is in the shop too. Can you pick them up? They're at the Brew."

Aria sighed, and then grinned. "Sure, Spence. I'll be a bit late," she said. "See you soon."

"Okay. See you then," Spencer said.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Spencer ended the car, and then Aria made her way to the Brew. She saw Caleb outside, and through the window she could see Toby and Ezra at a table. Both boys had coffees in their hands, and they were wrapped up tightly for the cold weather. She parked her car outside, and stepped out.

"Aria!" Caleb called from where he stood. She walked over and gave him a hug. She hadn't seen him in months.

"I knew it was you," she said. "I could see you from a mile away."

Caleb rolled his eyes and opened the door of the cafe. "Guys. I'm your ride. Let's get going so we're not late," Aria said.

Ezra and Toby got to their feet. While Caleb and Toby loaded their bags into Aria's car, Ezra and Aria shared a kiss. "I hardly saw you this week," Aria said with a grin. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Ezra said. "You know me. I never actually get down to packing until the last minute, and then I have to unload all the crap I put in my suitcase earlier in the week."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Aria told him.

"Aria, I found an expired apple in my suitcase," Ezra said.

"Well that's… still not too bad."

"Aria, it was old and wrinkly and orange and rotten. It's bad."

Aria rolled her eyes and began to slide into the driver's seat of the car. "I could drive, if you want," Ezra offered. She took the keys from her pocket and tossed them at him. She got into the passenger seat instead.

"So what have you guys been up to lately?" she asked as she examined her face in the mirror.

"Oh, not much," Caleb replied. "But this guy wants me to hack his girlfriend's phone for no apparent reason. There are, like, dirty pictures on there. I'm sure Hanna would kill me if she found out."

"You didn't save them, did you?" Aria asked in horror.

Ezra laughed. "No," Caleb said, as if the answer were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey, a girl has to ask. I'm sure there would be a long line of people waiting to kick your ass if there were pictures like that on your phone, and Hanna and I would be at the head of it," Aria said.

"Why the hell did you take that job anyway?" Toby asked. "You could seriously get somewhere if you actually got employed."

"Because there's money in this business," Caleb replied. "And it's amusing. The girl who owns this phone is cheating on her boyfriend with a mustache-faced prostitute from Russia."

Aria laughed in disbelief and buried her head in her hands. "I'm pretty sure you could get arrested for finding out something like that," she said.

The three boys laughed. "Toby, any idea why your girlfriend suddenly asked us out to her lake house this weekend?" Caleb asked.

"Not really," Toby said. "I think she just wants to reconnect with everybody. We haven't seen everyone in a long time."

"Either that's the royal 'we' or you are turning into one of those couples who think they're one person," Aria said. "_We_ haven't seen everyone in a long time. _We_ hope you like _our_ Christmas present. _We_ love the opera."

"Hey, we always get you separate gifts each year," Toby said. "It's Spencer who puts them together and signs them from us. And I'm not sure Spencer likes the opera anyway."

The car's passengers laughed. The drive up was mostly uneventful, but halfway down the long driveway, something crossed in their path. Trying to avoid it, Ezra turned the wheel too hard, and the car went skidding and smacked into a tree. All of the airbags in the car blew up, leaving Aria and Ezra trapped.

Toby and Caleb didn't even confer with each other before they got out of the car and opened up the door. Caleb pulled a pine needle off the ground and popped one of the airbags, while Toby popped the other with a spare pin he found in his pocket. Caleb helped Aria out of the car, while Ezra was able to get out under his own power.

"Are you okay?" Ezra asked as he walked around the front of the car. Aria let out a feeble nod. Her head was bleeding, and glass from the window had embedded itself in her arm. "What the hell was that?"

"It was probably a deer," Toby said. "There's no one else up here except the girls."

They stood in the driveway for a few moments. "I'm just waiting for a text that says, 'did you miss me?'," Aria said. "That's usually what happens."

"CeCe, Paige, Lucas, and Mona are in jail," Caleb said. "Toby's right. It was probably just an animal."

They made their way down the road and into the house. But what they didn't know was that someone was watching them.

**Looks like the five Pretty Little Liars have some unknown issues on their hands! I wasn't expecting to write this story, but I got this chapter done and then I decided to go from there. I literally just wrote this, this is my very first draft. Let me know what you think! Please leave a review!**

**Thanks!**

**Bye!**


	2. The New NormAl

A few minutes later, the four girls already at the lake house watched as Spencer, who had medical experience, cleaned the wound on Aria's head. The brunette was wincing as a wet cloth was dabbed onto the wound.

"It's just a cut," Spencer told her. "It should heal on its own, but you may want to take it easy for a few days just to give it some rest and relaxation." Aria nodded, and Spencer sat down on the couch beside Emily. "You're sure you didn't see who ran across the road?"

"It was probably just a deer," Toby assured her. "I mean, Paige, Mona, Lucas, and CeCe have been in jail for eight months now. There's no way they could be here."

Ezra sighed. "Well, whatever it was, it caused us one hell of a night," he said. He had escaped the car mostly unscathed, with a few tiny cuts on his arms that weren't even bleeding. "So what do we want to do now?"

"Well, I brought-" Caleb began, but Hanna got to her feet and went to the window.

"Guys, I think there's someone watching us," she said, and opened the back door, where the window was. "Hello?" A small, white bunny shot from the bushes and looked up at her with an almost confused expression. She screamed as it moved from its hiding place, but then grinned as she watched it scamper away. "That was freaky."

"Hanna, this place is crawling with wildlife. I can't believe you were scared by a rabbit," Spencer said with a grin.

"I can't believe I was, either," Hanna said.

Everyone went back inside and settled down into a few activities. They ate dinner and then decided to watch a movie after a game of Scrabble. For one of the first times in months, they felt normal. They weren't being watched, they weren't being text messaged by a diabolical stalker, and they were able to just be a normal group of friends.

Or so they thought.

**A sneak peek of the next chapter: **

_"Oh my God! Aria!" Spencer yelled as the small brunette went sliding. _

_"There's someone here!" Hanna exclaimed. _

_"Did you miss me?" _


	3. It's BAck

**Ha, I lied! I was soooo into this story so I had to give you guys another chapter. Please review as per usual. I can't believe the response this story has gotten already! **

The next day was warmer sitting at about 85, and the lake wasn't too bad, so the girls decided to change into their swimsuits and take a swim. They made their boyfriends go with them, too, and they started a barbecue. Spencer was at the stove, which they had found in the creepy attic of the lake house, and she was starting to cook lunch.

She reached to grab a smokey from the package when her hand hit the table. "Damn it," she said. "Aria?"

Aria was currently in the lake with the other girls, who were whacking each other with bright pink fun noodles. "Yeah?" she asked, and squealed as a hit from Emily knocked her off the fun noodle she swam with.

"I left the smokies up at the house. Can you go and grab them? They're in the fridge," Spencer said.

Aria sighed and climbed out of the water. "It's a good thing you're my best friend," she said. She quickly dried herself off and threw on a cover-up she'd gotten in Iceland while she had lived there for a year. She also slipped her feet into her flats and then trudged up the hill to the lake house.

She grabbed the smokies from the fridge and made her way back down to the water.

Meanwhile, the others were having a blast in the lake. Nobody else was there, so it was just the three girls having fun splashing each other and whacking each other with fun noodles. "Ali!" Emily screamed. She had gotten up on the dock to take a break, but Ali had other ideas. The blonde had whacked her in the back of the knees, and caused her to fall in.

Spencer laughed and rolled her eyes as the two shared a kiss. She honestly hadn't expected Ali to end up lesbian, but she and Emily made a great couple.

Just as the boys began to join in on the fun (Spencer couldn't help staring at the amazing view that was Toby's six pack), Aria appeared at the top of the hill. "Aria!" the brunette's boyfriend called. "Come on in, the water's fine!" He held a fun noodle high in the air and waved it around. He was smacked in the back of the head by Caleb, and he turned around in mock fury.

Aria smiled and waved at Ezra, and took a step to go down. Just then, her foot slipped on something. "Oh my God! Aria!" Spencer yelled as the tiny brunette went sliding. Aria tumbled in a series of somersaults and rotisserie-style rolls. She dropped the pack of smokies on her way down, and she landed in the water.

"Aria!" Emily cried, and the strong swimmer was the first to reach the brunette. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Aria told her. "Just shaken. I probably wasn't watching where I was going." She flashed Emily a weak smile. Emily checked her head just in case, and to their relief, it was fine.

"You have had the worst luck this trip," Ezra said, and kissed her. "Maybe I should just stay by your side."

"Mmm, my own personal bodyguard," Aria said. "I like the sound of that."

"She's definitely fine," Hanna muttered to Ali, and the comment caused the other blonde to throw her head back laughing.

A little while later, the girls decided to hike to a nearby waterfall. The trail was absolutely beautiful, and so was the fall itself. Hanna took picture after picture, mostly selfies, but a few of the waterfall as well and a lot with the group in the picture.

Emily, Spencer, and Hanna decided to hike up the trail a little more, and when they were a few meters away from Ali and Aria, they heard a scream. They went running back and saw Ali dangling from the cliff. "Grab my hand!" Aria was yelling, trying to reach down and grab the blonde.

"I can't! It's too short!" Ali cried, and she screamed as she started to slip.

"Oh my God!" Spencer screamed. "Ali!"

None of the girls' arms were long enough. Not even Emily's, who was crying as she watched her soulmate dangle from the cliff. The girls' screaming attracted the boys, and to their relief, Ezra's arm was long enough for Ali to reach. He pulled her up, and he comforted her for a bit, until the girls' phones started to ring.

Spencer thought she was going to be sick as she pulled out her phone. _How lucky! Eight liars in one place. You're making it so easy. Did you miss me, bitches? -A_

**Next on Child's Play:**

_"I can't believe I thought we were done with this." _

_"It's not over until A says it is." _

_"We'll always be A's puppets."_

_"This has to end now. I can't take this anymore!" _

_"A is coming for all of us. He wants revenge."_

**So it looks like A is back! Who do you think A is this time? I hope to have another chapter up tomorrow and then I'll update a few more times this week before I leave on my holiday, during which I will not be able to update at all. Thanks for reading!**


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